Jim Crowley’s extraordinary run of form during September seems to have put the jockeys’ title race to bed and he started October in similar style with a winner at Redcar on Saturday afternoon and two more under the lights at Wolverhampton a few hours later.
His original book of five rides at Windsor this afternoon is already down to four, however, with Pumblechook one of two non-runners in the most competitive race on the card, and this may be a rare blank day for the champion-elect.
Calibration, the favourite for the nursery, is Crowley’s best chance of a winner but this is a more competitive race than the prices suggest and Fair Power (4.20) is a decent bet to beat him at around 7-1. Silvester Kirk’s gelding outran his odds of 40-1 to finish fifth in a valuable sales race at The Curragh last time out from a poor draw and will be a live contender if he can reproduce anything like that form back in a handicap.
Wild Hacked (nap 3.50) ran an excellent race to finish fourth in a strong handicap at Ascot last time out and can race off the same mark in the best race of the day at Windsor, while Sky Ship (4.50) should also go well.
Silvestre de Sousa, who trails Crowley by 11 winners after the weekend, heads to Pontefract but he too may struggle to find more than a single winner on a competitive card.
Leoncavallo (3.30), who was useful over hurdles last season when trained by John Ferguson, has returned to Godolphin following Ferguson’s appointment as the operation’s chief executive and should be too good for his eight opponents in the stayers’ handicap. He finished fifth in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham in March and was a comfortable winner off a 5lb lower mark when he returned to the Flat in July.
Blair House (3.00) and Kelvin Hall (4.30) are two more to note on the Pontefract card, while Debece (3.10) will take plenty of beating on the jumps card at Southwell.
